Altitude of the Potentiometric Surface in the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, Spring 2018
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Publications of the US Geological Survey US Geological Survey 2020 Altitude of the Potentiometric Surface in the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, Spring 2018 Virginia L. McGuire Ronald C. Seanor William H. Asquith Anna M. Nottmeier David C. Smith See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usgspubs Part of the Geochemistry Commons, Geology Commons, Geomorphology Commons, Hydrology Commons, and the Other Earth Sciences Commons This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the US Geological Survey at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Publications of the US Geological Survey by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Authors Virginia L. McGuire, Ronald C. Seanor, William H. Asquith, Anna M. Nottmeier, David C. Smith, Roland W. Tollett, Wade H. Kress, and Kellan R. Strauch Water Availability and Use Science Program Altitude of the Potentiometric Surface in the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, Spring 2018 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using March 17, 2017, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data from NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System/Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (EOSDIS/ LANCE) and Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) | Worldview. Pamphlet to accompany Scientific Investigations Map 3453 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior DAVID BERNHARDT, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey James F. Reilly II, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2020 For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment—visit https://www.usgs.gov or call 1–888–ASK–USGS. For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit https://store.usgs.gov/. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner. Suggested citation: McGuire, V.L., Seanor, R.C., Asquith, W.H., Nottmeier, A.M., Smith, D.C., Tollett, R.W., Kress, W.H., and Strauch, K.R., 2020, Altitude of the potentiometric surface in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, spring 2018: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3453, 13 p., 5 sheets, https://doi.org/ 10.3133/ sim3453. Associated data for this publication: McGuire, V.L., Seanor, R.C., Asquith, W.H., Nottmeier, A.M., Smith, D.C., Tollett, R.W., Kress, W.H., and Strauch, K.R., 2020, Datasets used to map the potentiometric surface, Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, spring 2018: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P992HD1R. ISSN 2329-132X (online) iii Acknowledgments This map is the culmination of efforts by personnel from the Arkansas Department of Health, Arkansas Geological Survey, Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, Illinois Department of Agriculture, Illinois State Water Survey, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, Yazoo Mississippi Delta Joint Water Management District, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Department of Agriculture–Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Central Midwest, Lower Mississippi-Gulf, Oklahoma-Texas, and Nebraska Water Science Centers, who collected, compiled, organized, analyzed, and verified the groundwater- and surface-water-altitude data. In addition to the authors, who were primarily responsible for ensuring that the information con- tained in this report is accurate and complete, the following individuals contributed substantially to the review of the water-level data and related potentiometric-surface map: • Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality: James Hoffmann, Kay Whittington, Sam Mabry, Madison Kymes, and Pat Phillips; • U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service: James Robert (JR) Rigby; and • Yazoo Mississippi Delta Joint Water Management District: David Kelly. v Contents Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................................iii Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................1 Study Area Description ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������3 Data and Methods �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������3 Water-Level Data ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������3 Characterizing the 2018 Potentiometric-Surface Raster and Contours ......................................8 Potentiometric-Surface Map, Spring 2018 ................................................................................................9 Summary........................................................................................................................................................10 References Cited..........................................................................................................................................10 Figures 1. Map showing previous and current extent of the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer and areas with insufficient groundwater-altitude data to map the potentiometric surface for spring 2018 ..............................................................................2 2. Map showing location of wells with groundwater-altitude values and streamgages with surface-water-altitude values used to create the potentiometric-surface map of the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, spring 2018, and the part of the measurement month for the selected water-level-altitude value ...........................................................................................................7 Tables 1. Total number of wells that were completed in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer and measured manually one or more times or continually from January through May 2018, and the subset of these wells whose groundwater-altitude data were used to generate the potentiometric-surface map for the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, spring 2018, by Mississippi Alluvial Plain region ......................................................................................................................5 2. Summary statistics for water-level measurement dates of water levels used in the spring 2018 potentiometric-surface map for wells that were completed in the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer and measured manually one or more times or continually as part of groundwater monitoring networks from January through May 2018, by Mississippi Alluvial Plain region .........................................6 3. Total number of streamgages in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain with surface-water-altitude values for April 10, 2018, and number of surface-water-altitude values, generally for April 10, 2018, used to generate the potentiometric-surface map, spring 2018, for the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer by Mississippi Alluvial Plain region ................................................................8 vi Conversion Factors U.S. customary units to International System of Units Multiply By To obtain Length foot (ft) 0.3048 meter (m) mile (mi) 1.609 kilometer (km) Area section (640 acres or 1 square mile) 259.0 square hectometer (hm2) square mile (mi2) 259.0 hectare (ha) square mile (mi2) 2.590 square kilometer (km2) Flow rate million gallons per day (Mgal/d) 0.04381 cubic meter per second (m3/s) Datum Horizontal coordinate information is referenced to the World Geodetic Survey of 1984 (WGS 84). Historical data collected and stored as North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27) or the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) have been converted to WGS 84 for use in this publication. Vertical coordinate information is referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). Historical data collected and stored as National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29) have been converted to NAVD 88 for use in this publication. Altitude, as used in this report, refers to distance above the vertical datum. Abbreviations GIS geographic information system MAP Mississippi Alluvial Plain MRVA Mississippi River Valley alluvial RMSE root mean square error USGS U.S. Geological Survey Altitude of the Potentiometric Surface in the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, Spring 2018 By Virginia L. McGuire, Ronald C. Seanor, William H. Asquith, Anna M. Nottmeier, David C. Smith, Roland W. Tollett, Wade H. Kress, and Kellan R. Strauch Previously published potentiometric-surface maps for a Introduction large part of the MRVA aquifer include maps from water levels measured from 1953